EDF and JCB inclusive PPE charter: safety and compliance notes for site teams
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on New Civil Engineer
30 Second Briefing
EDF, JCB and other major employers have signed GMB’s new charter committing to provide properly fitting, inclusive PPE for an estimated 250,000 women working in construction, energy and related sectors. The charter targets issues such as oversized hi-vis jackets, poorly fitting fall-arrest harnesses and gloves that compromise grip, which can increase trip, entanglement and manual-handling risks on site. Contractors and clients may now face stronger pressure in pre-qualification and site audits to evidence gender-specific PPE procurement and stock management.
Technical Brief
- Site induction and toolbox talks will need updating to reference inclusive PPE availability and issue procedures.
- Pre-start checks on harnesses, gloves and hi-vis will now explicitly include fit-for-user, not just condition.
- Stock management systems must track women’s sizing ranges separately to avoid defaulting to male-standard issue.
- Incident investigations involving slips, trips, entanglement or manual handling will be expected to consider PPE fit as a causal factor.
- Principal contractors and CDM dutyholders may need to evidence inclusive PPE in RAMS and CDM compliance audits.
- Framework and alliance contracts are likely to add inclusive PPE clauses into safety schedules and KPI reporting.
Our Take
EDF already features in several safety- and compliance-related pieces in our database, including an ONR improvement notice over cabling at Hunterston B, so backing inclusive PPE standards aligns with growing scrutiny of its site practices beyond purely nuclear risk controls.
JCB’s recent work on hydrogen-powered generators shows it is repositioning around future-ready equipment; embedding inclusive PPE into that brand narrative could give it an edge in framework tenders where social value and workforce wellbeing are now scored alongside carbon and cost.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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